Somehow or other, I ended up reading this article on Nicholas Car’s blog about governance of IT purchasing in organizations. It highlights an important point: the governance structure should be focused on the objectives of the business, not as a means to create economic savings or placate management’s desires for a greater sense of control. Instead, the governance structure begets certain outcomes:

Companies focused on profits exhibited greater centralization, those
focused on innovation and sales growth were more decentralized, and
those seeking to maximize asset utilization had hybrid models.

The US government’s Lines of Business initiatives should take a close look at this. I’ve been watching the LoB’s closely, and I’m still unclear on what their objectives are. Cost savings? Greater operational speed? Improved data quality? What? It could be one or all of these, and others, and the answer to th question of desired outcome has to be answered first before the government jumps head-first into consolidation initiatives. This is as true in HR as it is in financial management, grants management, or anything else.